August 1st of last year, I purchased a "heavy duty" executive chair from OfficeMax. The box claimed it was designed to support up to 350 pounds. The salesman talked me into buying their MaxAssurance plan, which would extend the warranty on the chair out to 3 years. He assured me the warranty would cover any physical damage to the chair, except for abuse. The warranty pamphlet claimed "About the only thing MaxAssurance doesn't protect against are failures caused by abuse or misuse of the covered product."

A few days ago, the chair began wobbling side to side. I flipped it over to make sure all the bolts were tightened, and discovered the welds holding the gas strut to the base plate were beginning to fail. I dug up the receipt and the extended warranty and hit their website. I tried to fill out the form to get service, but it kept rejecting my claim. So I tried their live chat support. There I came to find out that the extended warranty covers structural defects for furniture, but according to them, chairs aren't considered furniture. (Huh?) Chairs are only covered for broken casters and the upholstery.

So not only did OfficeMax sell me shoddy merchandise, a "heavy duty" chair which failed in under 13 months, and their salesman deliberately misrepresented the extended warranty, but the warranty pamphlet itself is misleading.

Their support rep said I can send in my receipt and get a prorated refund for the rest of my extended warranty contract. Which will come out to something like $6. Whoopty-doo. I'm screwed about the chair though.

I went to Costco and bought a new one. If it ever breaks, Costco's fantastic satisfaction guarantee will give me my money back.